TASMANIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated NEWSLETTER ISSUE 02 WINTER 2020 Editorial Welcome to this the second edition of our newsletter. Our organisation, like so many others, has suffered significantly due to the COVID-19 pandemic resulting in an appreciable slowdown of our activities and future plans, however, we are still determined to achieved our objectives as detailed in the “President’s Report” printed in our last newsletter. With the hopeful completion of the Roving Curator’s programme our objectives will become more apparent eventually culminating in an important collection of Tasmania’s aviation history available for viewing. Our prime task in the short-term future is the refurbishment and display of “Miss Flinders”. This classic aircraft, so important to Tasmania’s aviation history, and fortunately placed in our society’s trust is the stepping stone for the organisation’s future. Already interest and contact has been received from other aviation bodies giving our group confidence in the direction and future of the society’s strategy and planning. This edition commences the first instalment in a series about prominent Tasmanian aviation giants. People who played a massive part in the development of Australian aviation all Tasmanian born. Folk like the Holyman Family, Gatty and the founder of QANTAS Hudson Fysh. Additionally, we will include stories about the lives and careers of Tasmanian’s who simply were bitten by the bug known as aviation. Your membership (only $20 per year) will assist in ensuring this project and the future development of the Tasmanian aviation history so badly neglected in the past. Wayne Dearing Newsletter Editor This Issue Includes • History snippets of early Tasmanian aviation • Tasmanian aviation giants – Hudson Fysh the Co-Founder of QANTAS • Launceston Airport - a brief history • Photos from the Past • “Miss Flinders” the continuing story • Mysteries of Aviation • Do you remember? www.tahs.org.au [email protected] Page 1 of 14 TASMANIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated NEWSLETTER ISSUE 02 WINTER 2020 Historical Snippets of Early Tasmanian Aviation Early Days of Georgetown Airstrip The recent trip to the Georgetown Rotary Club’s Wings and Things stimulated the memory back to May 1937. Known in those days as the Umbrella Flats emergency landing ground it was situated about five miles east of Georgetown for use as an emergency airstrip in the event of bad weather at Launceston. Prophetic words. The Australian National Airways (A.N.A.) Dragon Rapide “Memma” had flown to Flinders Island the previous day and was undertaking the return flight but it was deemed advisable, due to weather in Launceston, to use the Umbrella Flats emergency landing ground, and the machine landed without mishap thus becoming one of the first aircraft to use what is now known as Georgetown Airport on the 29th of May 1937. Flight Record – Three Times across the Strait The de Havilland 86 airliner “Loila”, the latest acquisition used by the Holyman’s Airways Ltd fleet in the Bass Strait passenger service, created a record back in November 1935. Pilots Frewin and Bayne flew three trips across Bass Strait in less than ten hours, calling at both Flinders and King Islands. The flight became the first aircraft to cross Bass Strait three times in one day. The first double crossing was by Pilot Mollison in the original A.N.A. Avro monoplane “Southern Star“ in March 1931. Airline “Lepena” Forced Down In December 1935, whilst flying en-route from Western Junction to King Island and Melbourne, the DH 86 aircraft with two pilots and eight passengers onboard developed a broken wing strut that ultimately resulted in an emergency landing on a rough undulating area on Hunter Island, which essentially wrecked the aircraft. Fortunately, all aboard survived with no injuries and the pilot’s cheerful message was sent out: “All safe. Machine wrecked. Send food” So unconcerned by their experience were the passengers that they spent the afternoon swimming and sunbaking. They spent the night in the plane and were taken off the island by the ketch “Phyllis” the next morning. www.tahs.org.au [email protected] Page 2 of 14 TASMANIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated NEWSLETTER ISSUE 02 WINTER 2020 Tasmanian Aviation Giants – Sir William Hudson Fysh The Co-Founder of “QANTAS” Son of Frederick and Mary Wilmot Fysh, William “Hudson” was born in Launceston on the 7th January 1895, one of five children. He was educated at the Launceston Church Grammar, then at Geelong Grammar School, before becoming a jackaroo and wool classer. At the outbreak of the First World War in August 1914, Fysh enlisted in the 3rd Regiment 1st Australian Light Horse Brigade, aged 19. On completion of his training, he was shipped out to Egypt. He was sent to Gallipoli, arriving in May 1915 only two weeks after the first landings. He spent seven months at Gallipoli before being evacuated in December 1915. After service with the Light Horse in Palestine and Sinai, Fysh commenced training as an Observer/Gunner in July 1917, then serving with No 7 Squadron Royal Flying Corps before transferring to Number 1 Squadron Australian Flying Corps. He was commissioned as a Lieutenant, replacing Lieutenant Ross Smith following his transfer to flying duties. Major Sydney Addison and Hudson Fysh in Palestine Flying as the observer with both Major Sydney Addison and Lieutenant Paul McGinness, Fysh became an observer ace shooting down five enemy aircraft between June and August 1918, for which he received the Distinguished Flying Cross. At the end of the War, in February 1919 Fysh obtained his pilot’s licence in Heliopolis, (Egypt). www.tahs.org.au [email protected] Page 3 of 14 TASMANIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated NEWSLETTER ISSUE 02 WINTER 2020 In March 1919 the Prime Minister of Australia, William Morris Hughes, announced a “Great Air Race”, offering a prize £10,000 for the first machine manned by Australians to fly from Great Britain to Australia before midnight 31st December 1919. Fysh and McGinness decided to compete in the race with funding support from Sir Samuel McCaughey. However McCaughey died in July 1919 and the executors refused to honour the funding agreement. As a result, their plans to fly to Australia were abandoned. Instead, after arriving back in Australia, Fysh and McGinness were commissioned by Major- General James Gordon Legge to survey the route the air race competitors would fly from Darwin to Longreach, identifying suitable landing grounds along the route. Arriving in Longreach in August 1919 they acquired a Model T Ford and with mechanic George Gorham, they set off on 18th August 1919. George Gorham, Paul McGuiness and Hudson Fysh in Longreach Throughout the trip Fysh began a diary of maps and photographs to record their journey. The group arrived in Katherine on the 8th of October after a journey of 51 days and 2,180 kms. From Katherine they boarded a train to Darwin thus becoming the first people to travel by car across the Gulf of Carpentaria. Following the trip both Fysh and McGinness believed Legge’s route was unsuitable due to the lack of open spaces for the aircraft landings and were convinced that the course through the Barkley Tablelands would be more convenient for the air race winners. www.tahs.org.au [email protected] Page 4 of 14 TASMANIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated NEWSLETTER ISSUE 02 WINTER 2020 McGinness and Gorham travelled back to Cloncurry to survey and build landing strips along the way. Fysh stayed in Darwin to build landing strips in Darwin and Katherine. On his return trip to Longreach in May 1920, Fysh met Alexander Kennedy and was given hospitality at Kennedy’s homestead, Bushy Park. McGinness had also stopped at the homestead on the way back to Katherine and had talked about his idea of an airline service for the area. After reuniting in Cloncurry, Fysh and McGinness began making plans to commence their airline operations confident of the future of commercial aviation. Fysh was later to write: “We could not help but be struck by the natural advantages which favoured the establishment of an air service in the district. We are convinced of the important part aircraft will play in transporting mail, passengers and freight over the sparsely populated and practically roadless areas of western and northern Queensland and north Australia.” On the 16th November 1920, a meeting between Fysh, McGinness, Fergus McMaster, Ainslie Templeton and Allan Campbell took place at the Gresham Hotel Brisbane to form an airline. After much consideration the name Queensland and Northern Territory Aerial Services was chosen with a paid-up capital of £6,700 (about $0.5M today). The story of the early days of Qantas will be told in the next newsletter. Photos from the Past An early passenger embarkation Launceston Airport. www.tahs.org.au [email protected] Page 5 of 14 TASMANIAN AVIATION HISTORICAL SOCIETY Incorporated NEWSLETTER ISSUE 02 WINTER 2020 Launceston Airport – A Brief History On the 26th September 1927 the Australian Aero Club (Tasmanian Division) was incorporated in Launceston. Tasmania now had an aero club but no aerodrome or aircraft! Planning had commenced in 1926 to establish an aerodrome at Western Junction, but it took until late 1929 before the land was purchased. Throughout 1930, the site was cleared, levelled and grass sown. The Aero Club also built their Hangar and Clubhouse. The all-over grass airfield at Western Junction was the first official aerodrome operated by the Civil Aviation Authority in Tasmania. The airport was opened for use with the first plane flown off the drome being the Aero Club Gypsy Moth “VH-ULM” on the 23rd November 1930. The official opening on the 28th of February 1931, when almost 20,000 people gathered on Evandale Road for the opening by Colonel Brimsmead, the Controller of Civil Aviation.